Changes in Carbohydrate Metabolism in Rats Fed Raw Soybean Flour

Abstract

Young rats were fed diets containing unheated or heat-processed soybean flour as source of protein. Weight gain and food intake were lower and pancreatic weight in relation to body weight, higher in rats adapted to unheated soybean flour. Rats adapted to unheated soybean flour exhibited some deviations from normal carbohydrate metabolism. Following a load of glucose they accumulated more glycogen in their livers and responded with a higher blood glucose level. Their pancreases secreted in vitro more ‘insulin like activity’ and glucagon. When food intake of rats adapted to heated soybean flour was restricted to the amounts eaten by rats adapted to unheated soybean flour, these differences in carbohydrate metabolism disappeared. It is concluded that the deviations observed are rather the results of restricted food intake than a specific effect of soybean trypsin inhibitor.